{4.5/5} “‘We destroy only that which now offends the Whetu’irawaru,’ Fy’ahn said, hir voice like rasps being dragged across flint. ‘Only that which the Fallen Gods now must regret having created in the first place. Only that which would bring still more of their wrath down upon us.”

Although the Titan is boldly going where no one has gone before, politics from back home still has an impact on them. Andor has seceded from the Federation, and Starfleet is moving all of its Andorian crewmembers to less sensitive positions — at least for now. That means that when the Capitoline arrives Riker will have to transfer all seven of his Andorian crewmembers — even if they don’t want to go.

The Titan has come across a world being bombarded by a pulsar, but it turns out the world is being protected by ancient machines. The beings who live there now are divided into two factions . Some of them have preserved the ancient knowledge but don’t understand it — and some of them want to destroy the ancient knowledge.

Fallen Gods by Michael A. Martin was published in 2012. It’s the seventh in a series of Star Trek books following the adventures of Captain Riker and crew aboard the Titan.

This is a fabulous story — an intriguing new world and new civilization, and also interesting things happening aboard the Titan. If you’ve been reading the series you’ll definitely want to read it. If you haven’t I think this one will make you want to read the others.

What characters from the shows are here? Riker, Troi, and Tuvok. But if you read the whole series you’ll get to know a bunch of new fascinating characters as well.

The story shows crewmembers dealing with orders they don’t want to obey, and it shows a crewmember deciding to stay on the planet they visit.

Martin has written a fair number of Star Trek books, including Seize the Fire and the first two books in the Titan series (with Andy Mangels). I look forward to reading more of his books.